DIY Custom Baby Grow Series: Fabric Printing Part 2

Here's what I am sure you have all been waiting for! Part 2 of my DIY custom baby grow series where I am looking at fabric printing.

In the last post we looked at how to stamp patterns on to baby grows using mostly rubbers and shapes cut out of rubbers (the white and yellow versions above). Today I am going to show you how I made the lovely green and blue striped version.

This baby grow started life as a plain white sleepsuit as part of a supermarket multipack. I started off by dying a few of them green using a packet of dye and then printed the pattern on the top. I have been specifically instructed by Mr Fox that one of these sleepsuits has to stay plain green so he can have hulk baby (boys!).

How to make it:

You will need:

• Plain white baby grow
• Dylon fabric dye (I used the small packet as I only dyed 3 small suits but you can use the machine version if you wanted to dye more)/ 
• Fabric paint
• Masking tape
• Old clean sponge

Start off by carefully masking off areas of the onesie which you don't want to dye, you might want to mask off the neckline so you don't get dye on it by mistake. You will end up painting the area between the masking tape strips so you can make these as wide or as thin as you like. If you are using a button down onesie like me make sure you get your stripes across matching and you will need to undo it to get all the way to the edge of the button band.

Once you have done this get your sponge, dip it in your fabric paint and dab it onto the onesie between the masking tape. Make sure you get a good coverage and go all the way to the edges of the tape.

Once the paint has dried fully you can remove the strips of tape and seal the fabric paint as per the instructions on the packet. 

As you can see from the picture above I only did stripes on the front body, and a bit down the legs. I had intended to do the whole lot, if you want to do this make sure you allow the body to dry before masking the arms or turning to do the back so that you don't smudge your lovely perfect lines. I actually decided the stripes on the body were striking enough that I didn't need to do any more.

I am really pleased with this one as well. I thought while it was drying it was going to look a bit naff, but actually its really cool. I can definitely see our little boy in this.

I hope you enjoyed these two little posts on jazzing up some store bought plain baby grows. I hope you do give this a go, or that it inspires you to create some designs of your very own. Again I would love to see them so please leave me a link below, or just email me a piccie. Bear in mind as well these techniques can be applied to any item of clothing; t-shirts, pants, hats etc you name it. It would be a great rainy day activity for little kids as well. Let your creativity run wild.

DIY Custom Baby Grow Series: Fabric Printing Part 1

I had so much fun today! I love crafty Fridays, look what I have been up to (and I have even tidied up before Mr Fox comes home). I have had a bit of a dodgy ankle the last couple of days so getting to the sewing machine was a bit problematic, especially when you struggle to pivot your ankle. So instead I decided to crack on with one of the nice, sitting with your feet up, baby makes I have had in my little brain. You remember my sneaky peaky post from last week? Well now you know what I was dying don't you. 

This post is actually going to end up being so pic heavy that I am going to break it up into two. You will have to check back on Tuesday for part 2. 

There are so many amazingly cute baby grows on the market that any new parent, relative, friend, general acquaintance etc must find it hard not to purchase every cute little outfit they see for a newborn. The problem is they don't come cheaply. So when you consider you have no idea how big baby is going to be and you don't know what you are going to get gifted its very difficult to get yourselves the basics for when baby arrives. They say that you need to take to the hospital at least 5 baby vests and sleepsuits but again, when you might buy something they only wear for 3 weeks how can you justify spending a lit of money. 

That's where plain multipack baby grows come in handy. They are cheap, they wash well, you can pick them up from the supermarket and they are kind to the purse strings. They are however incredibly dull and whats the point of having a baby if you can't make it look cute?

So when I considered that I could buy 3 cute baby sleepsuits for £16, or I could buy 3 plain ones for £6, a packet of fabric dye for £2.50 and then DIY them cute it was a no brainer really. I also already had some fabric paint in the house so there was very little effort required. Craft, entertainment and something handmade at the end of it all to make my little boy look cute as anything.

The first baby grow I did was plain white with printed stars in various colours of fabric dye.

How to do it:
Large Star: This is a cookie cutter which I just dipped into the dye which was on a plate and stamped it on.
Medium Star: This is cut out of a standard sized rubber (just the normal school type) using a craft knife. It is then printed on the baby grow like you would a potato print
Small Star: This one I find quiet ingenious, the star shape is cut out of a rubber on the end of a pencil, so you can use the pencil to hold. Again I used a craft knife to cut the shape away and just stamped away. They are so dainty I love them.

I love how this came out, I think its my favourite one. It works much better in a mix of colours, though you wouldn't need to, you could use just one. Its just randomly printed, there is no pattern to it. Its was so simple and it worked so well. You could make so many of these really quick and easily.

The second version is a dotty print on a hand dyed baby grow.

How to do it:
Dye your baby grow: To do this you will need some Dylon fabric dye, any type will do but if you are only dying a small number of baby grows its much cheaper to buy the small packet rather than the machine version.
Stamp your baby grow in as many coloured fabric paints as you like: This is done very very simply with the rubber on the end of a pencil. There is no special technique, and no special equipment (apart from the fabric dye) it really is that simple.

In hindsight the red was maybe not the best choice, hence my adding the green. It does look a bit like a baby with the measles! Oh well, never mind, at least I made this mistake so you don't have to. You could again do this on plain white and there are so many options for colour matching the possibilities are endless.

So there you have it, part 1 of the fabric printing DIY baby grow series. These were so easy, honestly, anyone who buys plain baby grows should give this a go, not only is it incredibly fun but its also a great way to dress your little baby with love, or to give as a gift to someone you know who will be having a baby, something you know no other baby will be wearing.

I would love to see pics if anyone does give this a go, please do share them with me below.

As I mentioned above, Part 2 will come on Tuesday and I will go over how to make the striped baby grow in the first picture.